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Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked war with Ukraine could come to a conclusion this year, according to a former US Army general who warned that the Kremlin would likely turn to the dire option of nuclear weapons if Moscow faces defeat in the conflict.Retired US Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan told Insider on Tuesday that he believes that Russia "would use a nuclear weapon before it allowed its military to be defeated in the field."Putin has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Ryan said that the Kremlin may...

“A regime of harassment of personnel was gradually established,” following the Russian takeover, said Petro Kotin, the director of Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency, in an interview with a French news agency Friday. “Two people were beaten to death,” he added. “We do not know where about 10 people are now. They were taken [by the Russians] and after that, we have no information about their whereabouts.”

Vladimir Putin has said Russia and North Korea will expand bilateral relations. Putin told the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, that the two countries would "expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts", the Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA reported on Monday. Separately, the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov, has said working with the Taliban is necessary where it "suits our interests", the Guardian reported.

North Korea reportedly launched multiple unidentified short-range "projectiles" off its eastern coast Saturday. Word of the firings was reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, which cited South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The South initially reported that the Communist North fired short-range missiles but later retracted that statement.

Basically leading with short dispatches saying the North Koreans did this at around 0906 am local Saturday (8:06 pm eastern USA) in Korea/Japan, about 90 minutes ago, into the Sea of Japan, traveling 70 to 200 kilometers from a launch site near Wonsan on DPRK east coast. (Report in Japanese—because fast breaking) Conservative Sankei Shimbun news, Tokyo

2013/04/03 11:25 KST N. Korea only allowing S. Korean workers to leave Kaesong, banning entry SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Wednesday it will ban South Korean workers from entering the inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong, only allowing South Koreans now staying at the North Korean border town to return home. Seoul's Ministry of Unification said that it received an official notification to the effect from the North earlier in the day. "South Korea's government deeply regrets the entry ban and urges it be lifted immediately," ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok said in a press conference. He said every...

Iran could provide nuclear weapons to Hamas and Hizbullah for a nonconventional attack on Israel, according to a chilling scenario presented in a new report. "Furthermore, even a minimal nuclear capability would enable Hizbullah and Hamas to conduct ongoing low-level attacks — even severe ones — against Israel, in the confidence that Israel would be deterred from massive retaliation. This would require a declared capability, or at least a strongly suspected one." Freilich, a former member of Israel's National Security Council, said Hamas or Hizbullah could smuggle a bomb into Israel through ships, airlines or an unmanned aerial vehicle. Other...

Moscow (ANTARA News) - Iran's successful launch of a satellite with its own technology shows that the country's missiles "can reach any point on the globe," a senior Russian space sector official said Thursday. "I take my hat off to the Iranian scientists," Vitali Lapota, manager of the RKK Energuia space construction company declared was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "They have shown their missiles can reach any point on the globe."

Will US physical entry in to Pakistan actually help in suppressing the resistance to occupation of Afghanistan and bring peace to the region? If yes, let's do it. However, it will only radicalize the population, leaving no other option with Washington but to declare Pakistan a 'rogue state'. The premise for US entry is that Pakistan Army is either incapable or unwilling to 'clean up the mess'. Then, does the US Army plan to do this in conjunction with Pakistan Army or in spite of it? It should now be abundantly clear that joint US-Pakistan ground operations in side our...

IRAN is poised to launch terror attacks in Britain if the West presses ahead with military strikes against its nuclear facilities, intelligence experts warned last night. As tensions in the Middle East continued to grow, they warned that the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah had already established sleeper cells in Britain and mainland Europe tasked with carrying out bloody reprisals. Likely UK targets include nuclear power stations, military bases, Government buildings and high-profile politicians and members of the Jewish community

A joint declaration signed Thursday by the leaders of South and North Korea was indicative of Pyongyang's aim of ensuring the survival of Kim Jong Il's regime by interlocking the six-party talks with bilateral relations. North Korea has used its nuclear weapons program to intimidate the international community into recognizing the regime of Kim Jong Il and ensure its survival. The blueprint for the regime's survival planned by the North Korean leader is surprisingly simple. North Korea rushed a nuclear test in October last year after having implemented an aggressive development of nuclear weapons. Pyongyang then banked on securing improved...

Excerpt - North Korea's No. 2 leader said Wednesday that whether the country will carry out further nuclear tests following one earlier in the week would depend on how the United States treats the country. In a meeting with Kyodo News, Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, said North Korea also considers U.S. policy toward the country the main factor for determining whether to return to the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear programs. ~ snip ~

most things about North Korea, little is known for certain about the Taepodong 2 missile. But there is no doubt North Korea does have a very long standing and pretty sophisticated missile programme. North Korea's intentions are under the global spotlight In 1998, before it began observing a moratorium on tests, North Korea launched a Taepodong 1 missile which passed over northern Japan and surprised Western intelligence agencies by the use of three stages in the missile's propulsion system. What is striking about the Taepodong 2 is that it could well be North Korea's first genuine intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)...

MANHATTAN, Kansas (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday he was concerned a future nuclear-armed Iran could blackmail the world. But in a setback for U.S.-European Union efforts to crack down on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief ruled out advancing a wide-ranging report on the issue in time for a February 2 crisis meeting of his agency. In remarks at Kansas State University, Bush cited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's expressed wish for Israel to be wiped off the map as a sign that Iran sought a nuclear arsenal. "The world cannot...

Could Iran Checkmate America? Rachel Neuwirth, April 25, 2005 On March 29, 2005 the London Arab daily Al-Hayat published a report on Iran's current preparedness for an American or Israeli attack. The report was translated by www.memri.org (Middle East Media Research Institute). MEMRI introduced the report as follows: In recent months, commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and armed forces have announced their complete preparedness for a possible military attack on Iran's nuclear installations and other sensitive sites. Iranian spokesmen have declared that Iran's response would be formidable. The interview indicates the hostility, confidence, determination and intractability of the Iranian leadership....

North Korea's announcement that it possesses nuclear weapons has fueled a diplomatic frenzy. To persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks -- with China, Japan, the US, Russia and South Korea -- on defusing the nuclear threat on the Korean Peninsula, Japan, the US and South Korea have now offered to expand the scope of the talks to allow North Korea to raise any issue that concerns it. This could be a grave mistake. The talks ground to a halt in June last year, when the North Koreans pulled out, citing the allegedly hostile policies of the US...

<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A top U-S general says impoverished North Korea might resort to selling weapons-grade plutonium to terrorists for much-needed cash.</p> <p>General Leon LaPorte, the top U-S military commander in South Korea, says if that happens, it would be "disastrous for the world." LaPorte says the communist state may have harvested plutonium from a pool of eight-thousand spent nuclear fuel rods, which experts say could yield enough material for several atomic bombs.</p>

"TOKYO - Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday rejected demands by North Korea of a U.S. "reward" before the communist country would agree to resume multinational talks about its nuclear weapons programs. Powell said any proposals from North Korea should be discussed as part of the negotiating process established more than a year ago that involves both Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. "This is a six-party discussion, not a U.S.-North Korea discussion or an exchange of U.S. and North Korean talking points," Powell told reporters during his flight to Tokyo, the first stop on a three-nation...

WASHINGTON, July 6 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday there should be no reward to North Korea for dismantling its nuclear weapons program. Powell made the remark at a meeting with Shin Ki-nam, head of South Korea's ruling Uri Party, reiterating Washington's long-standing position that it won't reward Pyongyang's bad behavior. The nuclear standoff began in the fall of 2002 after U.S. officials said the North admitted to having a covert nuclear arms program in violation of a 1994 accord. The United States has been urging Pyongyang to end its nuclear program completely, while maintaining...

North Korea urges U.S. concession for nuclear freeze during Cabinet talks with South Korea SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea on Wednesday demanded compensation from the United States for freezing its nuclear weapons programs as a first step in resolving a 15-month standoff, as preparations got underway for critical nuclear negotiations later this month in Beijing. The comments came during high-level talks in Seoul between North and South Korean officials. "The United States has not at all changed its demand that we first give up our nuclear programs," the North's chief negotiator Kim Ryong Song said, according to...